Saturday

Long before the Internet was born we had businesses selling to other businesses and consumers. But it was the Internet that really put B2B And B2C on the map. For that matter, it also built the C2C landscape.

What is B2B, B2C, and C2C?

B2B refers to Business-to-business, B2C is Business-to-consumer, and C2C represents Consumer-to-consumer. These terms have all been popularized by the World Wide Web with no built-in boundaries for commerce and e-Business sales.

Marketing Classifications

Every company brand could be classified under at least one of the three with many companies selling to both B2B and B2C classifications.

Some countries use BtoB, BtoC, and CtoC to represent the exact same thing. The really interesting thing about all six of these U.S. English Acronyms is that other countries have adopted and even use the terms in their own written languages to communicate to their readers.

Sales Online

In the early technology days of the Internet these three terms represented a very narrow spectrum of eCommerce branded companies that were exclusively doing online sales to other businesses or consumers. Now with affordable Internet technology capabilities of anyone or any business having an online eCommerce shopping cart built into their website the broader description is a much more accurate description. That is, defining it as, any website or company that is marketing & advertising their products or branded services online to other consumers and businesses is said to be BtoB, BtoC, Or CtoC.

There have been many excellent articles written online about the differences between B2B & B2C sales. But, if I had to sum it up, the biggest difference in the two is the time frame from start of a sale to the close of a sale. Typically B2B requires more time than B2C though there are exceptions to every rule.

Real Estate Exception

One exception would be the real estate market place. More than 70% of Home Buyers are starting their home buying searches online. The consumer process of buying a home can extend out over many months and can even include working with a number of Realtors before ever committing to one specific Realtor. Home Sellers on the other hand, may interview numerous Realtors before settling with one they can trust.

There certainly are other differences to consider, and it is always a good idea to understand who your target audience is.